Friday 15 May 2015

Has Yann most to fear from new signings?

I am a big admirer of Yann Kermorgant who has been one of Eddie Howe's best acquisitions since his arrival from Charlton Athletic. The Frenchman always puts in a shift and he often belies what you think he is capable of and has become a marksman that not only gets a lot of goals from the penalty spot and free kicks, but can also score the spectacular like he did against Ipswich to win him AFCB's goal of the season. It was pretty hot competition this year as well so it was quite something for Yann to take that award.
Yann will be looking to keep his place next season against mounting competition.
The worry is will Yann be one of the casualties of the club's increasing success? At the moment no new signings have come in but AFCB have to ensure that they can score in the Premier League and they may need a different kind of striker to upset teams in this league. Can Yann learn to adapt his style slightly to score and provide more goals? Will the same playing style he has now do as well in the top tier?

I actually think Yann will be fairly successful, if he does get the opportunity to keep his place in the team as he is a thinker and often tends to predict where the ball will land in the opposition's box. He is also a player that draws a lot of fouls and has an aerial ability that has been employed in defence as well as in attack by Eddie Howe. At 33, Yann is one of the senior players in the squad and that may mean that Eddie does consider resting him more than he has in his first two seasons at the club.

It is no coincidence that AFCB picked up their form fairly significantly when Yann came to the Cherries in January 2014. He added new variation to the team and linked play better than many other second strikers that have been at the club. While Brett Pitman was used in fairly good measure as well last season, both strikers could come under pressure to be the partner for Callum Wilson. There can only be 25 members in the squad and so it might not be so easy to use Brett and Yann like Eddie Howe did in the Championship. Do you replace these two strikers with one who may be able so do the job by himself?

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